——— Mira ———
After seeing Ellis' mysterious 'fox with no eyes' monster, I started to get worried.
It seemed quite clear that this particular monster was using some sort of a mind attack, otherwise, it wouldn't make sense that the Silverback Wolfman, respected for its strength and bravery, would be reduced into a state of a whimpering dog.
However, it bothered me that Konya also broke down, indicating that he was attacked too.
That should be clearly against the rules, although it was no physical attack.
Sir Brennan did nothing about it though, and considering that Ellis managed to come this far he must also handled the other students with the same foul tactic. And he was getting away with it.
It meant I should also be prepared for any form of mind attack, but well, I wasn't too worried about that. I consider myself exceptionally strong-willed. I'm Minakong Ilennis Rasparan Ayenne of Kakwaszavoot Clan. I'm a born prodigy, a generational talent, and soon to be the savior and provider for the entire clan, giving us a platform to change our destiny.
Well, OK, maybe that was a bit far-fetched, at this stage. But I was determined to provide for my Mom and Dad and the extended family at least with the career I would be able to enjoy as a certified graduate from Magi Academy.
The real problem was Minho.
I don't know the mechanism behind the fox's mind attack, but its primary function seemed to be to elicit fear. I doubted that it could draw upon internal fear and trauma like the Mirror of Despair can. After all, the Mirror is an ultimate Illusion magic that comes with a very heavy cost. I can't believe that the fox, no matter how mysterious and magical the creature might be, could so easily access the deepest inner fears of its targets in a way that the Mirror can. But it certainly seemed to be effective enough in creating enough fear to make people - and monsters! - give up the fight.
From my experience of casting Mirror of Despair on Minho, one thing I knew for sure was that this guy had some massive issue with his past that he wasn't telling me. If the fox's mind magic could tap into that, it could lead to a paralyzing outcome for him. He's literally just going to curl up on the ground and cry like Konya did.
So the problem was, even if I could steel myself against the fox's mind attack - how could I stop it from affecting Minho?
"Would you guys like to have dinner at my place to… celebrate?"
As I was lost in my thoughts after witnessing Konya's defeat just now, Celestine brought me back to reality with her invitation.
"Sure!" I answered in reflex and immediately regretted it as the answer came from my stomach, not my brain, which was now scolding the culprit telling it that we better spend the time strategizing instead.
"Thank you very much for the offer, but I think we need some time to think about the fight with that fox…" Thankfully, Minho, for a change, acted as a voice of reason.
Well done, Human.
And shame on you - my stomach.
"Wouldn't it be better if we all thought about it together?" Celestine appealed, and she was right. Putting aside the fact that I still had to remind myself to be suspicious of why she was always so keen on being helpful…
But well… perhaps I should open up-
No way.
"Thanks, Celestine. But, I think we are fine as we are."
"That's a pity."
:Rumble:
Dang it! Now is not the right time, stomach!
"That's REALLY a pity." Celestine quipped.
:Rumble:
Argh.
"Maybe Celestine's right, Mira. We can talk things through together."
"Fine, then. Let's go…"
I grudgingly gave in. An undeserved victory for my stomach.
We skipped watching some of the other battles we could have in order to go to Celestine's Mansion early and have the so-called… strategy meeting over the dinner table, although it was hardly dinner time yet.
I wasn't going to complain about the fine meat and delicately puffy bread though.
"So, what are your thoughts?" I asked the 'nice' girl sitting across the table.
"It's a mind attack surely."
"Of course, that much is obvious," I answered.
"Does mind attacks work on Humans?"
"Yes." Minho and I answered at the same time.
"Interesting… you two make it sound like you've tried it."
The Human and I exchanged glances but decided to say nothing against it.
"Are you going to be alright, Minakong?" The girl asked me directly this time.
"Don't worry about me. I won't break down so easily like Konya."
"I see. How about you, Minho?"
I wanted to ask the same question.
"I… should be fine. I have no idea what these mind attacks are though."
"It should be similar to Illusion magic, but only visible to the target of the attack." Celestine tried to explain.
Well, at least when it came to Illusion magic I was completely confident that I knew better than her, but I didn't want to reveal that side of me to her now.
Let's hear what she says.
"But Illusion Magic and Mind Magic work differently, at least from what I've studied."
Go on, tell me more about Mind Magic, you can skip the Illusion part.
"Mind Magic establishes a link between the mind of the caster and the target. I never received such an attack before, not even in training so I can't say how it exactly feels. But theoretically, it becomes a direct battle of mind between the caster and the target, almost taking place in a field invisible to anyone else."
"Do you know… if it taps into the memory of the target?"
I asked her the most important question. Probably Minho's biggest weakness.
"As far as I know, the answer is no."
That was a relief.
"So Konya and the Silverback simply folded because they were 'shown' something scary in their mind?"
"I think there's more to it then, because if that were the case then someone who's brave enough to have no fear would be immune to ANY form of mind attack. But that is not the case."
"I see."
Sigh. So Celestine couldn't really help much here either.
"The truth lies probably somewhere in between. It cannot access the target's memory, but it can 'influence' your mind somehow. For example, Mind Magic cannot 'see' inside your mind to find out a secret word or something, but it can coerce you to say it. That's how they use it in interrogation."
Oh? That was somewhat interesting.
Although I wasn't quite sure how we could use that to our advantage.
As Celestine and I were talking more about the ways Mind Magic works, I checked out how Minho was doing every now and then. He was unusually quiet - not that he's a big talker in these situations anyway, but I could read that he was still very concerned with the upcoming fight against the blind fox.
I guess I have to take it upon myself to reassure him a little.
"Hey, Minho."
"Er… yeah?"
"Don't worry about the fight. I will handle it."
"How?"
"I'm the Master that summoned the Worst Kind of Demon after all."
That didn't seem to make him fully confident yet, but at least made him smile briefly.
Yeah.
As long as you can remember to smile like that, we will find a way through.